“I’ll be fine.”
“But—”
“Go. Get some food. Then I’ll go take a break too.”
I huffed out a breath and took my zip-up hoodie off the hook. “Text me if you need me. I’m just going to check everything is—”
“Seriou
sly, Kin. Take a break.”
“Fine. If you’re sure.”
I brought three arrangements downstairs and tucked the smaller pots along one side of the stairs. I double checked the huge wine barrel full of ice and free bottles of water for the people walking by, then refilled the three huge bowls of water I’d set out for dogs.
Since I shared the space with August, we’d agreed that it was worth losing a little sidewalk space to put an old glider swing between our doorways.
A couple with a wiggling puppy was currently swaying gently on it while they licked ice cream cones. I waved hello and left them to it. Across the street, Ivy’s truck had been brought out from winter storage behind the café.
My stomach flipped as a head peeked out from the window of the truck, but I couldn’t decide if it was relief or regret when I recognized Jodi slinging ice cream instead of Ivy.
“Looking for me?”
I spun around toward Ivy’s voice.
Rory was next to her, rubbing her back lightly as Ivy gripped the stroller handle.
“Hey.”
She gave me a half smile. “Looking cute, Pippi.”
I rolled my eyes and played with the tail of my braid. “Didn’t have time to tame the crazy.” I probably looked like I’d had no sleep while Ivy seemed rested. Her cheeks were rosy and matched the pink spring jacket she was wearing.
“About yesterday.”
“It’s too pretty a day to get into that right now.” Ivy’s face was a little closed off, pain still shimmering in her eyes, but there was understanding there too.
It wasn’t a hard leap to make. I never mentioned family and I always changed the subject, deflecting with questions about her family tree instead.
I hadn’t lied, but my not sharing was just as hard to swallow. Shame wasn’t an easy thing to live with when you lived in a place like Crescent Cove, which was basically a postcard for a family town.
Oh, it wasn’t perfect. No place on Earth was really Pleasantville. But the Cove was damn close, especially with the baby boom putting a shiny happy glow on everything.
I looked down at my sensible shoes and tightened my hoodie around me. Maybe we just wouldn’t talk at all. What exactly could I say to her?
“Can you walk with us? We were going to meet August at the pier.”
I quickly looked up. “Oh, I shouldn’t leave the store. Luna is still so—”
“She’ll be fine.” Ivy eased around the stroller and gave Rhiannon an absent pat, tucking her stroller blanket around her ever flailing legs. She smiled at her daughter then came around to me and linked our arms together.
My dry eyes suddenly stung.
I didn’t deserve the olive branch, but I took it. Heck, I grabbed it. “Sure. I could use a walk.”
“You sure could.” Ivy snagged three bottles of water from the barrel and passed them out to all of us. “Now let’s go see what kind of terrible food there is. I’ve barely gotten back into my pants, but I’m dying for some fried dough.”
Before I could agree, I was getting pulled along into the pedestrian traffic. Most of Main Street was coned off to let the kids run around within the adults’ watchful gazes. A soccer ball was being kicked around on the patchy spring grass to the far right of the vendor stalls.